BobP

Further observations: I've had the Garco for 2 months now, decanted into 2 Ball canning jars with rubber seal lids and using a wine saver aerosol containing nitrogen and CO2. My Garco began to "go off" within a couple of weeks and now has a jelly-like skin whenever I open the jar. I could keep DN under the same regimen for up to a year without a skin appearing in the dipping jar. The Garco is a little thicker than DN and I believe it uses a different mix of solvents or at least less of the solvent contained in DN. This is significant because DN would tend to soak through acrylic paint to form a monolithic finish to the wood or plastic substrate, while the Garco may not do this. On the other hand, I've re-dipped a dozen lures in Garco after 18 hrs and none of them developed problem areas like can happen when multiple coats of DN are tried. Bottom line: I probably won't be using Garco again because of the quick hardening in the jar. Although DN is more expensive, I think it is still the 'gold standard" MCU if you dip hardbaits.

Not that I do it myself buy if you stop rotating the bait in an upright position so any unhardened material collects in the belly, forming a kind of ballast, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I've finished a few bass size baits made from Alumite and even with max microballoons they had limited buoyancy and it was hard to build small bass baits because the hardware made the bait heavier than I wanted. Maybe that wouldn't be a problem with a larger musky bait but I'd be looking to cast a shell and fill it with foam to get more buoyancy and make the lure more lively.

Mark, I think it would since the cooling bait would tend to draw in versus push out air. There's also the consideration that curing epoxy is an exothermic chemical process. It's not so noticeable with slow cure epoxies, but it is. I regularly use D2T for undercoating and I do get occasional small bubbles. When I began thinning D2T slightly with DA and using a fine artist's brush to apply it, many of the problems disappeared. And to me, a few small bubbles are no big thing because I sand the epoxy before painting to provide a better bond and remove any bubble bumps at the same time. The time to correct problems in finish is when they "pop up" I strive for a really smooth finish and epoxy undercoating is a great way to get it. Epoxy is tough, it's waterproof, and it's chemically inert when cured, which makes bad reactions with solvent based topcoats like MCU a non-issue. One thing for sure - problems in a finish layer will usually 'print through' to the final finish so it's best to fix it right away - whatever that takes. Sand out bumps. If you thinned your epoxy too much and it soaked completely into end grain areas and left rough patches, sand them smooth and re-coat the entire lure. Fixing goofs is just part of the hobby.

I've got lots of adhesive 3D eyes but think painted-on eyes look better on many baits. I use Ceramcoat paint which is very thick and gives the eyes a little 3D effect. Dab it on with a Q-tip or nail head. If you get the placement wrong, dab it off with a damp Q-tip.

Make a new bookmark on the Hard Baits page and the problem will disappear. Same thing happened to me.

I see my bookmark was doing this. Made a new bookmark and no problem never mind!

When I navigate directly to the Hardbaits forum from my home webpage, I'm now being deposited on Page 13 of the forum, not Page 1. Wazup?

The balsa IS releasing bubbles into the epoxy. It may help a little if you thin the epoxy a little with denatured alcohol before applying it. Coating the bait with super glue which dries quickly is also a good solution. Anything you do to heat up the bait after applying the epoxy will force bubbles out, so try to avoid that. Compressors: I'd make sure the compressor is rated for at least 60 psi. I've never found a "quiet" compressor, just some that make less noise than others. But never one that I'd want running inside the house with family members around. Some high priced airbrush models advertise lower noise levels but that doesn't include any in the $100 range.

152nd, yeah, I see that Bustin Bass has changed the copy on his lure descriptions to eliminate any suggestion that the blanks are actually made in Japan. However, the ones described as 'high quality' are actually that - a cut above the typical KO in quality. Appreciate the correction. Look, if you buy unpainted KO's, you're playing Russian Roulette. Don't EVER expect a KO to work the same as an original. Yes, there are some KO's that are good baits that catch fish. They're good in their own right in spite of being modeled after a popular commercial bait. I've found a few that I like after trying a bunch of them over the years. But that's the problem: if you have to buy many baits to find a few that work the way you want, it might be cheaper in the long run (not counting the wasted work you put into finishing the dogs) to just buy the originals. I think this is especially true for less expensive baits like the Strike King KVD series or the Rapala DT's. The latest KO's I tried were the Megabass 110 KO's. Nice quality and the internals look very similar to a real $27 110. But when float tested, they would not suspend with the same head-down attitude as an original. Not the end of the world since I could apply a little lead tape to the front of the lures before painting to get them to behave properly. But anyone who buys one thinking he's getting a premium Japanese jerkbait for 5 bucks is deluded.

Chinese factories sand the joints on their baits to hide misalignment or material that has seeped out of the joint. Clearcoat the lip and it will disappear. If you are not satisfied with the quality of the baits, look at sources that sell unpainted lures made in Japan. Higher cost but also higher build quality - IMO. Bustin Bass Baits is one that sells some Japanese models.

Balsa varies in density from 6 to 18 lbs/cu ft - quite a range. Generally, the darker the balsa, the harder and more dense it will be. It's not the water content.

JMHO, there's just no reason to go with the higher priced 316, 410, etc. I'm very happy using the soft temper "bend and stay" 304. It's plenty strong enough for bass baits and makes it easy to form screw eyes and thru-wire frames. It also allows the user to tune a crankbait more easily and there is less chance of breaking the finish on the nose of shallow baits. I use the .041" diameter on 90% of my baits, reducing size to .032" for very small crankbaits.

I really like the Revolution series of airbrushes. Iwata quality and performance at a more moderate price. They just lack some of the latest bells and whistles like the trigger adjust (+) and the MAC valve. I use a Revolution BR with the smaller cup and .3mm tip for painting bass baits and think that tip size is "just right" for general bass bait painting. It will shoot fine flake paint. Can't comment about .5mm tips 'cause I've never used one.

Sounds to me like their paint is intended to be used like their worm dyes.... ie, something you would use on the water to instantly doctor a crankbait - not something you would want to use to paint crankbaits as a hobbiest.

Until a few years ago, wood was treated with arsenic to deter insects. You don't wanna use it to make lures.

If there's a magic chemical, it hasn't been reported here on TU. Last I heard, some of the best custom repainters use media blasting to remove the paint.

The same thing was happening while I was on vacation the first of this month. Fortunately, I was using my sister's tablet computer so when I came home, I left the problem behind. As long as my sis doesn't become a TU member, no problem!

Doug, I order Superhide White and other specialty brands of airbrush paint from taxidermy.com

I spray a color basecoat of white, then a dark color over the area to be scaled (often Createx Gray). Then I cover it with netting and spray the same white basecoat over the netting. The critical part is to use the right white acrylic paint. The best I've found is Superhide White by Polytranspar. It has lots of pigment so it hides dark paint quickly and it dries very quickly, leaving a neat, distinct scale effect on the lure without running or gumming it up. I tone down the effect after I remove the netting by overspraying colors on the scales and/or erasing scale effect from unwanted areas with a little more Superhide White. I dry the paint with a hair dryer after each paint shot. This method has an extra step or two but it provides neat, reliable results. I had given up on trying dark scale effects until Rayburn Guy suggested this.

Me 4. I'm guessing it's a remnant problem from the recent crash?

That's an interesting solution, Mark. An unobtrusive internal mechanism instead of the external ones used on the Wobble Bat (fan shaped external blade) and the "hang a weight on the tail treble" one shown in recent videos from Japan. Thanks for the report!

The waterproofing, paint, and topcoat you put on a lure is a SYSTEM, and it has to be compatible if you want to avoid problems with adhesion. The simplest system that works well is probably epoxy-paint-epoxy. If you mix solvent based primer with solvent based topcoats, it's a crap shoot. Some work, some don't and you won't know until you put on the topcoat and see whether it bubbles, delaminates, etc. Personally, I don't like using auto primer on any crankbait. It leaves a stink that never goes away and whether it actually promotes adhesion of water based paint questionable. There's a lot of confusion about undercoating - waterproofing - priming - color basecoating, etc. You have to waterproof (aka undercoat) wood lures to improve their durability and prevent the water in water based paint from causing the wood grain to rise. Primers make solvent based paint adhere to metal surfaces. Most of us don't paint metal crankbaits and most don't use solvent based paints. Color basecoating is put on after the waterproofing/undercoating to hide wood grain and hardware and give you a consistent opaque (usually white) surface to paint. Most of us use white water based airbrush paint for this. A simple system: undercoat the wood with 30 minute or epoxy, lightly sand it, basecoat with white paint, paint the colors, topcoat with the same epoxy. Createx is the most popular airbrush paint because it's sold more places and has a reputation for consistency. Check art supply shops and crafting stores for it. I like Createx but use any brand of water based airbrush paint, just depending on color I want. Airbrushes: yep, you get what you pay for but you have to buy what you can afford. Better airbrushes spray better, give fewer problems, and last indefinitely. One fairly economical airbrush that will last, give great service, and has the right-sized tip (.3mm) for crankbait painting is the Iwata Revolution BR. I'm certainly not saying that you can't strike out on your own and use different coatings; just recommending a few that are time-tested.

I have to admit to a visceral reaction regarding PVC trim board - "What? Why not REAL wood?" I don't have time or money issues with using wood, so it's my strong preference. But I can understand the advantages of PVC and/or molded urethane. If you're just starting out in crankbaits, a material like PVC carves consistently and is easy to finish just like Mark says. You don't have as much time or sweat equity in the finished crankbait so if you screw it up, it isn't such a tragedy. A big plus is that you can easily swim test your crankbait before you put the finish on it. Wood is harder to shape, harder to waterproof, and harder to finish. It has a lot of variability and requires different finishing processes for different wood species. But that variability which makes for a steeper learning curve (and longer build times) also opens up a wider universe of design possibility if you want to build crankbaits that perform better than the ones from major manufacturers. If performance is the reason you build your own, I think at some point you have to turn to wood. JMHO

To me, all properly cured epoxies have similar hardness. Several years ago, the big issue on TU was D2T versus ETEX. D2T is popular among bass bait builders while ETEX is favored by many musky bait builders. D2T is a thicker, one coat epoxy glue. ETEX is a thinner slow cure pour-on epoxy that contains some solvent. JMHO, ETEX tends to be more transparent and may be somewhat more impact-resistant than D2T. The downside is that ETEX usually requires multiple coats to form a thick enough clearcoat. ETEX is available at craft shops like Michaels in pint sizes. There are different "knacks" to getting a great topcoat with different epoxies. Search through the posts here on Hardbaits and the member supplied Tutorials for tips on each.

I haven't used it but it looks like another "pour-on" bar-top or decoupage epoxy, the most popular of which here on TU has been Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX). If so, it will probably require at least 2 coats to build a film thick enough for bass crankbaits, more if you fish for toothy critters. If you want a thicker epoxy that will cover in one coat, you might check into UV stabilized Flexcoat or Nu-Lustre. Epoxies with UV inhibitors cost more, of course. There's no free lunch.